Writing for a Cause

2. Being a Lonely Drunk is Never Fun

The sound of a blaring alarm woke Gerard up from his slumber. He jumped a little when he first heard it. The alarm was set to play Chop Suey by System of a Down. Gerard originally set it to that because he thought it would get him out of bed faster, but it also proved to be good at scaring the shit out of him when he woke up.

It definitely did get him up and out though, because he rushed to the alarm so he could turn off Serj Tankian's loud vocals. They were still amazing vocals, but Gerard didn't really appreciate them at the time.

When he finally stopped the alarm, he sighed and walked over to his computer to check his emails. He had 2 of them, one of which was from his professor, and the other was from the head of the school.

From: Cory Russle
To: Gerard Way and 30 others

I'm sorry to say that I am sick today, and we will not be having class as we normally do. Take this time to go out and draw anything that grabs your attention. You have no specific assignments today, but take a day for yourself to let your creative side run free. If you draw anything you enjoy, please email me pictures of the work so I can award you the proper bonus credits for your end of semester grades.

That was the email from his professor. Next was the email from the head of the school.

From: Dr. Jones Mayberry
To: Gerard Way and 100+ others

As most of you know by now, the end of the semester is arriving quickly. However, just because there is less time left for school does not mean that rules do not apply. This email serves as a reminder to be on your best behavior, along with the assignments needed for your final grades. Please pay close attention to each assignment, and complete it by the appropriate date. Email your professors for more information.

~Visual Arts students: Create a portfolio of all different types of art you have made over the year. This will be used to track your progression as artists.

~Music students: Construct a completed song that lasts from 1 and a half minutes to 4. Your scores will be based on creativity, lyrical talent, and originality of scores and sounds.

~Photography students: Create a collage of your favorite things to photograph. Scores will be based on visual aesthetic.

~Literature students: Create a short passage. The passage can be used in the following forms: poetry, folk-tale, and informative article. There is no length requirement, as long as you provide enough content for the reader to understand. Scores will be based on the development of ideas and use of context.

Gerard deleted the two emails and decided that he would put his art portfolio together over the weekend. He had good grades the whole year, so he was pretty certain that his final grade would be good too.

He decided that it would be nice to go walking around the courtyard for awhile, and enjoy nature. He slipped off his pajamas and tossed them onto the pile of dirty clothes he was planning to wash later, and he put on some sweatpants and a hoodie. He took the note he found yesterday from the drawer and placed it in his pocket.

He put some supplies in his art bag and slung it over his shoulder before walking out the door, locking it behind him. He trudged his was down the stairs until he reached the front entrance and swung the door wide open, ready to leave those dreaded dorms.

When he first looked around at all the scenery, it looked like a typical art college. There were music students outside singing and strumming guitars. There were authors sitting at some of the lunch tables, huddled in small cliques. There were art students scattered around sketching the whole scene. There were photographers observing the flowers and angling their cameras to get the best photos. Everything seemed so cliche.